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Thursday, September 12, 2013

2,448: I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes

It’s been billed as “the only thriller you need to read
this year” and, ignoring the issue of where the emphasis should rest in that statement,
it’s a pretty big and ballsy claim, especially when backed up with a big publicity
campaign and some pretty decent word of mouth.
So, does I Am Pilgrim live up
to it.

Well, not quite, although that’s not to say that it isn’t
a good read. It’s just that it’s not so
much better than other thrillers I’ve read this year that it quite warrants the
hyperbole.

I don’t particularly want to say a huge amount about the
plot as, firstly, it’s pretty convoluted and so any synopsis will either not do
it justice or will be too confusing to be of any value. Secondly, I did like the way the author
develops the plot from a really skilful opening scene onwards - although
certain passages of the book can appear a bit standard thrillerish, the overall
story arc is not so predictable.

So, I’ll just restrict myself to saying that the book
opens in a down-market New York hotel room where the NYPD have discovered a
young woman gruesomely murdered and disposed of in a bath of acid. All forensic evidence in the room has been
removed or destroyed. It looks like the
perfect murder, a fact that disturbs a civilian observer of the scene. Why? Because
he has, quite literally, written the book on how to commit the perfect murder.

Intrigued? Well,
from this beginning the reader is taken on a breakneck-paced journey which
takes in three continents, several more countries, over thirty years of history
and at least three sub-plots, all whilst jumping from action scene to
puzzle-solving and from the hero’s point of view to the villain’s perspective
stuff. It’s heady, adrenaline-pumping
stuff and, given that the book runs to around 700 pages, it’s credit to the
author that it never drags or sags.

The author, Terry Hayes, is actually a Hollywood
screenwriter (I Am Pilgrim is his
debut novel) so it probably shouldn’t be a surprise that his command of action
is so good or that I Am Pilgrim has
an action film flavour to it as his credits include Mad Max 2 and Payback.

Although Hayes occasionally dips into the bag of thriller
clichés - there are a few stock thriller character types and
some of the main characters are given butch sounding nicknames - on the whole
the plotting and the characters are believable and capable of holding the
reader’s attention. I would point out
that the ethical systems and decision-making of some of the main characters
including, notably, Pilgrim himself, the book’s hero, inhabit the grey areas of
life and some readers who prefer a less utilitarian outlook from their action
heroes may find Pilgrim unsympathetic.

Personally, after getting used to it, I found Pilgrim’s
way of thinking rather refreshing, especially as it came as part of a conflicted
and morally troubled character package that made him a more original and
interesting protagonist and the ways in which Pilgrim and his antagonist,
Saracen, had developed from their troubled childhoods formed a nice contrast
and sub-theme.

I’m not sure if there’s a particular message to be gleaned
from I Am Pilgrim but there seemed to
be a clear undertone that America has a right to deal with its perceived
enemies in whatever way it thinks fit which might have been offputting had it
not been for the fact that it also seemed to be pointing at Pilgrim and saying,”
and this is what can happen to those caught up in our fight against our
enemies.”

Look, the bottom line with I Am Pilgrim is that it’s a high octane thriller with an excellent
plot, some well-developed characters and enough originality to lift it well
above most of its competitors. It had me
sitting up late at night and eating my lunch away from my desk as it was so gripping
and that’s got to be a good thing.

The only thriller you need to read this year? No, but it’s
definitely a thriller you should read this year.

I'd like to thank Transworld for allowing me to read I Am Pilgrim through Netgalley.

3 comments:

Thanks for the reviews, which I enjoyed reading. I probably will not read this book, as I rarely read books that make my heart race and f*** with my mind, but I love reading spoilers and such about said books so that I can nod knowingly when these books come up in conversation.

About Me

Lawyer, husband, father, voracious reader. During a mild bout of mid-life angst, I found out that, based on life expectancy of a British male and my average reading speed, I have only 2,606 more books to read before I expire. So I'm going to count them down and write about them.
As part of this plan, I intend to read the 1,001 Books You Must Read Before You Die, using the 2008 edition as my base.